ENG2012 – Spring 2027 – Udeh-Ubaka

English has traveled, crossed borders, absorbed other languages, and carried with it the pressures of migration and colonial history, and has, through the years, been remolded by speakers, communities, and writers across the world. For this course, students will be introduced to English Studies by asking what happens when we approach ‚"English" as a global field rather than a single national tradition. With a focus on contemporary world literature, we will practice the kinds of reading and writing that define literary study: close reading, annotation, analysis, drafting, workshop-based feedback, revision, and argument. We will look closely at choices involving form, voice, structure, image, and language, while also considering the histories and cultural contexts that surround a text. Our course will move between interpretation and research towards teaching students how to develop an observation into an arguable claim and how to place their own ideas alongside scholarship and other secondary sources. By the end of the semester, students should have a clearer sense of what literary scholars do and of the questions, methods, and habits of attention they will carry into upper-level English courses.